


and in the end, i'd do it all again

by bipolyjack



Series: Pitch Black Streets [1]
Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, M/M, my rivalrymance didn't end well yall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-29 13:31:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17204270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bipolyjack/pseuds/bipolyjack
Summary: It was always going to be either him or Bethany, and for Imran Hawke, there never really was a choice.





	and in the end, i'd do it all again

His sword passed through Fenris easily, in that unprotected spot just below his chest plate. How many times had he looked at that little chest plate and worried that it wouldn’t be enough? When the dragon in the Bone Pit had snatched Fenris up in her mouth, shaken him, and flung him against the pit wall like a broken toy, Imran had screamed his name so loud his throat was raw. Now he couldn’t even whisper. Their bodies were shoved together as Imran’s sword sank in up to the hilt; blood spilled out of Fenris’s open mouth and down over the lyrium markings on his chin. But neither of them said a word. Speaking wouldn’t fix this, just as it hadn’t fixed anything else for them. All Imran could hear was the wetness of Fenris’s breath as his eyes turned glassy and he sagged forward against Imran’s shoulder. 

He withdrew his sword, the wet sound of steel dragging through flesh loud in his ears. The battle still raged in the courtyard around them, but for Imran there was just Fenris, his slight body slumping to the ground, blood pooling beneath it. Imran stood unmoving and watched the pool spread as arrows and bolts of magic flew past him and the clang of weapons rang out. He might have stayed like that until a stray arrow killed him, but then his sister’s voice cut through the fog of shock, a sharp cry of pain. He jerked himself away from Fenris’s body and charged headlong toward the Templars clustered around Bethany, already swinging his sword and bellowing before he reached them. He mowed through the Templars in a blind fury. Wasn’t this the choice he’d made? Bethany was the only family he had left, and it didn’t matter who he killed, or how many, to keep her safe. He would raze the city for her if he had to. 

He’d killed Fenris for her, after all.

With all the Templars dead, the courtyard fell truly silent. He stood unsteadily for a moment, sword dripping blood, before turning and stumbling on a leg wound he hadn’t even noticed back to where Fenris had fallen. When he dropped to his knees beside the body, it was only partly because his leg wouldn’t hold him up any longer. He gathered up the elf in his arms – even as a deadweight, he seemed so light – and pressed him to his chest, pressed his forehead into that pale shock of hair, sodden on one side now with blood. He squeezed his eyes shut and listened, with painful intensity, for any sign of a heartbeat, a breath, anything, but of course there wasn’t. 

“Hawke,” said Varric softly. “We have to go.” 

He raised his face and looked up at them. Varric, a deep bruise spreading along one cheek. Aveline, sword arm bloody to the elbow, supporting Bethany as she clutched a gash in her side, her brown skin ashy with mana drain. Anders, the blue-white light just now fading from his eyes.

“Anders, heal him.” Imran knew his voice was shaking.

“I'm... not sure I can.”

God, how he hated to ask Anders for help, after everything. He did it through his teeth. “Please –”

The mage knelt and passed a glowing hand over the body. “He’s dead. I’m sorry, Hawke.” How could his voice sound so gentle, when Imran had watched him blow up the entire Chantry with the Sisters still inside little more than an hour before? And he’d made no secret of his hatred for Fenris. 

Now he was moving his palm over the wound in Imran’s leg. The pain receded. “We need to get to Meredith. We can’t let her escape.”

Imran knocked his hand away. “Don't.”

He laid Fenris’s head back down and ignored the hand Anders extended to help him to his feet.

**Author's Note:**

> DA2 didn't end well for poor Imran Hawke and I have some uhhhh feelings about it. Fic and series titles from The Kids Aren't All Right by Fall Out Boy.


End file.
